Conventionally, media separators for separating paper sheet-like media inserted in a lump from each other to send them out have been used in, for example, bill teller machines and the like.
In such a media separator, when paper sheets different in length are inserted in a lump at one time without aligning the leading edges thereof in the insertion direction, shorter paper sheets remain inside the media separator. Thus, there has been a problem that it is impossible to convey remaining media to a conveyer or the like disposed at the subsequent stage of the media separator.
As a device for solving that problem, there is a media separator described in Japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2002-155539. This separator has an auxiliary picker roller disposed between a lumped-media conveyer mechanism and a picker roller to rotate to thereby send out shorter media received by the lumped-media conveyer mechanism toward the picker roller. That makes it possible to convey media, even shorter, to a conveyer or the like disposed downstream the media separator without having shorter media remain within the lumped-media conveyer mechanism.
However, in the above-mentioned separator, it is very difficult to additionally dispose an auxiliary picker roller in an extremely small space from the media inlet slot to the picker roller. Therefore, there is a problem that the separator would be structurally overstuffed so as to possibly cause a conveyance difficulty such as a paper jam.